Shih's anti-Chen camp to sue Tainan County chief

By Mo Yan-chih / STAFF REPORTER

The campaign aiming to oust President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday filed a lawsuit against Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智), accusing him of negligence after he refused to allow the camp to protest by the county hall.

The campaign's nationwide tour was scheduled to pass through the county and enter Tainan City on Monday night, but was forced to change course after its route was blocked by the police.

Accusing Su and the chief of Tainan County Police Department Huang Fu-sheng (黃富生) of violating their human rights, the campaign yesterday visited the Tainan Prosecutors' Office to file a lawsuit against them.

"Su used to be a human rights lawyer, but now, as a local commissioner, he repressed people's rights and blocked our route so we couldn't enter the city," an organizer of the camp Lee Hsin (李新) said yesterday in Tainan.

In an attempt to step up its efforts in the fight against corruption, camp lawyer John Wei (魏千峰) yesterday announced the establishment of a corruption investigation center, with about 500 lawyers, to examine the corruption accusations involving Chen and his family members, including Chen's special allowance fund and the Sogo voucher case.

According to Wei, a government official has recently presented the camp with evidence related to the special allowance fund and is willing to testify.

Wei said the official told him that in the past the president had given out many empty red envelopes during inspection tours. The bonuses that were supposed to be paid by the Presidential Office were actually paid later by local governments, while the Presidential Office put the cash into the special allowance fund, Wei said.

"The special allowance fund case is far more serious than originally thought," he said during a press conference at the Mayor's Residence Arts Salon.

Wei said that all the information the camp's lawyers gather will be given to prosecutor Eric Chen (陳瑞仁), while inviting people who have any information about the corruption allegations involving Chen and his family to contact the corruption investigation center.

Meanwhile, the campaign's nationwide tour yesterday went to Kaohsiung County, where it held a protest at Zhongshan Hall (中山堂).

Campaign leader Shih Ming-teh (施明德) lashed out at Su and Kaohsiung Mayor Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), both members of the Democratic Progressive Party, for impeding the campaign's events in the south.

"They shut themselves in their prisons in the city and county governments. They have forgotten how they pursued democracy in the past," Shih said, leading the crowds in chanting slogans and doing the thumbs down sign.

The campaign later passed through Kaohsiung City, where Chen's supporters and opponents shouted at each other from across the streets. Several thousand police gathered along the camp's route to separate the two sides and maintain public order.

After staying the night in Pingtung County, the campaign is scheduled to arrive in Taitung City today.

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